It feels so good to be back home and back to normalcy. This past weekend Joe and I packed up and went on our first family vacation together. Any trips that we have taken have been to visit family, but this was our first trip getting to go and do what we have been wanting to do for a long time - go to the Upper Peninsula. We took off Thursday and got home yesterday and filled those days in between with as much as we could.
We may have underestimated how an almost 2 year old would handle all this driving, hotel stays and camping. Joe and I really questioned if we were ready for this after a 6 hour drive to Marquette on Thursday with Conner in the backseat having epic meltdowns for 4 of those hours. We had to finally stop about an hour outside of Marquette just to let him run and blow off steam.
Joe's birthday was also that Thursday, and I already felt like a terrible wife before we even left the house. He already knew I got him a new pair of shoes, but I didn't even have time to wrap them or get him a card or anything. Then you add in an exhausting car ride and zero energy to go out to eat for his birthday once we checked in... I felt like I really dropped the ball. But, Joe being the awesome guy he is just ordered food from the restaurant next door and happily ate in the hotel room with us.
Thursday pics:
A stop in Munising just to let Conner run and be free.
Anyone with a toddler gets this picture.
Joe was fixing his shoe so he could go back to climbing and jumping.
...and more jumping
Friday
We made plans to hike up Sugarloaf Mountain but knowing how much of a flight risk Conner can be when he gets inside the woods convinced us that we needed to see if Walmart or Target sold those toddler leashes. That's right. I said toddler leashes. You know, the ones that you see parents have their kids hooked up to at theme parks or airports and you think to yourself "I will never be one of those parents". Well, we became those parents. What's worse is that we couldn't find the legit leases that are made for toddlers so Joe and I were convinced that the next best thing would be a retractable dog leash. Let's face it, the dog leash serves the same purpose but also allows us to use it for our dog. Folks, that is a win-win situation.
Conner did amazing on the hike up Sugarloaf. Of course the boys wanted to take the difficult route as opposed to the easy path so my belly and I got an extra workout on the steep climb. Conner went up the entire path without being held (until the last few set of staircases - then it was my responsibility to play a pack mule and carry him). We played, jumped and ran at the top and that little boy was so worn out that he needed to be carried the entire way back down.
After that, we had to get lunch at Main St Pizza. I wanted to see how 1 slice would affect my blood glucose so I went for it and enjoyed every bite of that slice. Two hours later and a glucose reading of 144, I decided that was a bad choice. Oh well, back to salads I guess. Thank you, pregnancy.
The rest of the late afternoon we spent on the beach at Picnic Rocks. We had perfect beach weather so we took advantage. We ended the evening eating out at one of Joe's old regular go-to places, Vengos. We sat in a booth and at one point we still managed to almost lose that little boy. Side note - we always get booths because Conner loves climbing up on the seat and then hide under the table, but he stays confined that way. Conner made another descent under that table where I thought he was playing with his truck. I was wrong. Joe started to feel around for him and after no luck, looked at me and said, "I think we're missing a boy". I start searching and scanning the restaurant wondering how he escaped before I realized the booths were open underneath giving him the opportunity to belly crawl his way to the booth next to us. I grabbed his little feet before he could get to the next table diners and pulled while he fought back. From now on I check to make sure booths are blocked off from each other.
Friday Pics:
A boy and his dad.
This picture. I could just ball my eyes out watching these two with their bond. Makes me so happy.
Saturday:
I am amazed at how many times we went to the store over this extended weekend vacation. Once again, we were back at Walmart Saturday morning. This time, Joe and I were convinced that we needed to cave in and buy a portable dvd player for the car. We made plans to make a 2.5 hour drive up to the Keewanau Peninsula to visit "Uncle" Phil at his cabin. After the car ride on Thursday, we just needed a mental break to get us through the car trip, and I admit, watching episodes of Curious George over and over did the trick for us.
We were fortunate to be able to spend a few hours at Phil and Lori's cabin and finally get to see it. It feels like to perfect getaway spot being right on the lake. Conner played hard and after lunch we got back in the truck and made our way back to Marquette. Conner protested being back in a carseat until he remembered Curious George. That little boy watched 1 episode before passing out cold for the rest of the trip back.
Once we got back to Marquette we went straight for a walk out on Presque Isle and Black Rocks. In Conner's mind, rocks = jumping. And there was lots of jumping. Joe and I couldn't believe how busy the place was. On a typical day, there may be 2 to 4 other people out on Black Rocks, but that day there was no shortage of college students out there cliff jumping into Superior. I told Joe we couldn't go too close to them. I had an honest fear of Conner seeing all those college kids jumping off the cliffs and him thinking he could do the same.
We finally were able to celebrate Joe's birthday at his favorite restaurant in Marquette called the Vierling. He loves getting the whitefish there. The restaurant overlooks Lake Superior where they catch and bring the fish in fresh daily. No wonder Joe loves it so much. They brought us out a piece of peanut butter pie at the end of the meal complete with a birthday candle for Joe. After that filling meal, we spent the rest of the evening down at the hotel pool. Conner is such a waterbug. He barely let Joe get into the water before he jumped in.
Saturday Pics:
Quietly eating breakfast while watching Curious George or as Conner calls it "Moo-Baa". I don't know how he thinks that sounds remotely close.
Conner tried to hide the fact that he was tired, but he kept rubbing those little eyes.
This was a completely unexpected bear hug from little cub out on Black Rocks.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Sunday
By far the most challenging of the days. We checked out of the hotel at 10:30 and headed to Walmart (yet again) to buy food for our last night that we were planning to spend camping. You know the day is going to be challenging when you have a toddler just melting down in the store and it's not even 11am. We seriously went back and forth if we should just skip camping and head home a day early, but we didn't want to regret it later on, so we stayed.
Since we couldn't get into the campground until 3pm, we spent the entire afternoon at the park in town. After Conner was showing some desperate signs of a nap, we tried putting him in the stroller and see if he'd sleep on a walk. Not so much. We walked a couple miles down to another park with no luck. So we ate lunch, played on the playground and swam at the beach and by then it was 2pm and we just decided to see if we could check in early at the campground. Lukcy us, we were able to get in early!
The rest of the evening went a lot like our last camping expedition. Challenging. Joe took him down to the beach and then for a walk which finally resulted in that little boy taking the nap he needed. The rest of the evening was a little easier and slightly more relaxing. It still took close to 2 hours to get Conner asleep (I ended up passing out first because I was just laying there waiting on him to sleep).
Sunday Pics:
Sunsets and rock tossing down at the water.
By the way, shorts became overrated for the evening at the campground.
Monday
Joe got up early to make sure breakfast was ready when Conner and I got up. (He's awesome like that.) That allowed us to pack up quickly and get on the road back home. We changed our gameplan for the ride home. Instead of only stopping for gas and diapers, we planned to stop every hour or two to let Conner run and play. It made the trip a lot longer, but we made it without ever needing to use the dvd player. That made Joe and I really happy.
Our first stop was about an hour into the trip in Munising at Pictured Rocks. Conner really enjoyed the short hike to Miners Castle and I really enjoyed some time behind the camera. We made one more stop once we got back across the bridge in Mackinaw City for lunch and some play time at the beach. The last two hours were the hardest. That little boy made me so proud though. We made it until the last 30 minutes before he started really breaking down and crying from being in the truck for so long. He kept crying out that he wanted "Ma-Na" (our dog Mia). It's amazing that a child so young would miss his dog that much.
Arriving back in the driveway was such a great feeling. We had some highs and lows on our first family vacation, but overall it was an awesome trip. Still, nothing feels better than coming home.
Monday Pics:
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